By demanding a separate pageant, Julia Morley is supposedly asking for the best but she regularly end up selecting the not-so-best

Two seemingly odd things happened in these past few days - 1.) Mexico held a separate pageant called Miss Mundo Mexico 2.) For the first time in a  very long time Miss Mundo Venezuela was not selected alongside Miss Universo Venezuela.

At first, we all thought Lupita Jones and Osmel Sousa lost their Miss World franchises. But contributors told Missosology that Julia Morley has actually demanded a separate pageant specifically designed for Miss World. The Asian tour that Julia and Alexandria had in 2010-2011 was actually part of the grand plan to ensure that at the national level, contestants for Miss World are selected in a distinct pageant. This led for example, to the creation of Miss World Philippines after the franchise was taken out (or given up by) from Bb. Pilipinas.

This will lead us to ask what will happen to Panama or to Turkey - Missosology's poster countries regarding the tangibility of the Big4 concept. Julia as it seems is allergic to the idea that there are 4 major beauty pageants in the world. She wants to demand the very best from every country, a demand not even Donald Trump had ever made. (Miss Universe mainly requires that a contestant should be a winner of national pageant and not necessary a distinct pageant and it doesn't matter whether a pageant selects four winners). Interestingly, many countries which send their winners to both Miss Universe and Miss World were left out from the semis like Miss Russia Elizaveta Golovanova and Miss France Delphine Wespiser despite being tagged as pre-arrival front runners. Even more interesting that another strong country that does the same, South Africa, sent its first runner-up to Miss World - an arrangement never practiced by the country for quite a long time. Some claimed South Africa smelled something fishy, that they don't want to waste their precious candidate Melinda Bam.

Obviously, every pageant can set a certain guideline but what the Miss World Organization is doing is putting added pressure to established franchise holders like Nuestra Belleza de Mexico or Miss Turkey pageant. By demanding a separate pageant, Miss World is pushing the financial burdens to these organizations at these hard times where the Greeks are melting and the Irish are panicking. Second, distinct pageants do not necessarily mean that an organization is bound to select the very best. As in the case of Miss World Philippines, two of its successive winners were "leftovers" and "recycled" (please forgive the terminology) from Bb. Pilipinas. This could happen in any country where a contestant can go pageant shopping. If one fails say, at Miss Universe Turkey, one can wait for Miss World Turkey contest.

My hunch is, Julia is doing this for a stronger brand name. When the pageant is distinct, Miss World gets all the spotlight. But the policy is ill-conceived and misguided. Branding is best achieved when at the international level, you select the very best. What's the point when you have the best Mexican or the best Venezuelan and you end up crowning a plain Llanita or a mediocre Chinese? Miss World should review the practicality of its demands and appreciate the cumbersomeness of their new found requirements.

About the author: Ric Galvez is the founder of Missosology and wrote this article while stuck in Baton Rouge, LA during the landfall of Hurricane Isaac